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9 thoughts on “Raqiya (and More) Manga Giveaway!”

I was digging through my “manga to read” list the other day and stumbled on one called Ame Nochi Hare (Clear Up After Rain), checked it out and really enjoyed it. It’s older-shojo, bunch of guys start turning into girls after it rains and I really like the tone of the story, the transformations aren’t played just for laughs and it’s subtle but you can see the guys taking on more girly mannerisms even in their boy lives so I wonder where the manga will eventually take it. I think it *might* fit with Vertical’s titles so I submitted it to their survey but I’m not going to hold my breath on it. XD

As an avid manga and comic reader, I would die to see the Keisuke Itagaki’s entire Baki series (Grappler Baki, New Grappler Baki, Baki Son of Ogre, and the coming soon Baki-Dou), published in the US. These comics offer a superb storyline along with great artwork, which always gets my blood flowing and refills my adventure tank every time. And as far as the manga being licensed, I would hand the baton to Viz-Media.

Honestly, most of the newer manga gets picked up these days! Crunchyroll and such are doing a great job. I am sort of impressed. But I really would like to see in English:

Vampir (Natsumi Isuki) Kodansha. I was on a Isuki kick after reading the first volume of Jyu-oh-sei and I can’t believe more of her work hasn’t come over. She’s really good. (Demon Sacred needs a license rescue so I can find out how it ends)

Mieru Hito (Toshiaki Iwashiro) Shueisha. After reading Psyren I had to find out what else the manga-ka did. I thought it was pretty solid although not as good as Psyren.

…and I feel like I had more but I’m just finding license rescues which are a whole ‘nother topic.

The first and most feasible in my opinion, is Nokemono to Hanayome, or The Outcast and his Bride, a story written by KUNIHIKO IKUHARA(director of Revolutionary Girl Utena and Mawaru Penguindrum) with manga art by Asumiko Nakamura. The story begins when a girl in lolita dress elopes with a guy in bear suit, who are on the run from “Burning Giraffe”, a organization of children who want to kill all adults. Considering the following Ikuhara has here, I have no idea why this hasn’t been licensed already. Vertical seems like a good choice for liscensor, plus they’ve already published another title by Asumiko Nakamura, Ustubora.

The other manga I so wish could be licensed is 7 Seeds by Tamura Yumi, a josei post-apocalyptic science fiction manga with elements of action-adventure, horror, mystery and romance. Thousands of years after a giant metorite impact wiped out all of humanity and utterly altered Earth’s climate and ecosystems, five groups of seven teenagers are awoken from cryogenic sleep and stuggle to survive in the harsh and alien environment that was once Japan. Although this is a really excellent series on so many levels, and I think would have appeal to a wide range of manga fans, the long length and older shojo style characters designs mean it’s not very likely that it’ll be licensed in the current market. It’s such a shame. If this was published in the U.S, I’d like to see it get a Crunchyroll style syndication.